The Atlantic: NASA or MOMA? Play the Game!

blansh

6 years ago

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One of the most enduring and inspiring side effects of space exploration is the pictures — pictures of Earth taken from new heights; pictures of Earth’s neighbors, taken from new angles; pictures that resemble, and in fact are, art. They are magical. They are mysterious. They are weird. They suggest, if they don’t fully embody, why we go to the trouble of exploring in the first place.

And they often resemble art of a more earthly variety. Below is a collection of images — some of them created by prolific space photographer Chris Hadfield, taken from the International Space Station (we’ll call those “NASA”), some of them created by nearly-as-prolific painters here on Earth (we’ll call those “MOMA”). Here’s a game: Can you tell the difference between the two?